Blinded No More
by Valoja
Summary: Roy's life seems to collapse right in front of him when he loses his sight and has to face the consequences after the fight against Father. When he meets a woman who manages to change his view on everything, he wonders if he has been given a second chance. OC x Roy Mustang. Song is by Sonata Arctica.
1. Acceptance

Roy Mustang opened his eyes only to be greeted by darkness. A frown appeared on his face as he checked that he was awake. Why couldn't he see where he was? All he could hear was someone humming, together with some annoying beeping and the sound of things being shuffled around.

None of these helped the Flame Alchemist find out where he was, so he closed his eyes and reopened them. Still seeing nothing, he continued to do so until he couldn't even feel if his eyes were opened or closed because it all looked the same to him.

Suddenly he felt a pressure on his eyes, keeping them closed – or opened – and he heard a voice that probably belonged to the person who had been humming.

"Don't," the woman said, "Just accept it."

"Accept what? The fact that I'm blind and won't be able to see a thing in my entire life again and that my dream has been destroyed because of that? I'd like to see you accept that! I could just as well be dead!" Roy snapped at the unfamiliar woman.

There was a sudden silence as the shuffling stopped. Shortly after, Roy felt the left side of his bed go down a bit.

"Do you really think that being dead is better than being blind?" The question took the alchemist by surprise. "I agree that you _are_ blind on _some_ aspects, but there will be places where your eyes open."

Now it was Roy's turn to stay silent, confused. The stranger seemed to sense his confusion and decided to explain her words.

"Everyone knows Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, as a womanizer. But now that Roy Mustang is blind, he can't check out the asses of women, or their long, tanned legs, or their evil curves…"

Roy almost winced at that, imagining it all as she mentioned them. It calmed him down a bit that he could still see everything in his mind.

"Now, he can concentrate on personalities; maybe even fall in love properly…" she trailed off and continued with her work.

"Say, you know who I am, but I don't know who you are." God, that almost sounded like a flirt.

"I'm Lena Hahn. Just call me Lee, everyone does."

Roy grinned as if he had accomplished something that was supposed to be impossible.

"So, 'Lee', tell me something about yourself," Roy said with the grin still in place.

Lena sighed and took a deep breath.

"I was born on the 19th of December, I have one older brother and one older sister and my mother told me I was the easiest one to bring to the world. I'm about 165 centimetres tall, have dirty blond hair and blue eyes. If you want my three measurements, you can try and find out for yourself and hope you get out alive. My father is a prick and left us when I was about eight, leaving us to care for ourselves. My mother fell in love with some guy a few months ago; my sister is seven months pregnant and my brother owns a small shop where you can buy cigarettes and magazines."

Roy blinked a few times at the fact that Lena said all that in one breath and with zero emotions.

"What about stuff you like?"

"I love horror films. I like my job… I love my family. I enjoy reading books with as little reality as possible, helping people, drinking coffee before I start working. Always wanted a dog, but don't have enough time for one."

"I love dogs too," Roy admitted, pained. He never had time for a dog either, but now he probably had enough time to start a whole fucking dog business… How awesome. Please note the sarcasm.

Lena somehow felt the pain her patient was feeling and yearned to help him, so she did.

"You know, you're in the hospital right now and I'm the nurse taking care of you. I've always wanted to help people, wanted to do something with both nursing and psychology, so I decided to do both. I found out that it helps to look at both yourself and someone who you think has a life that sucks more than yours."

"Huh…" was all that Roy could say at all the sudden information that was being forced into his head. Though it did help him to forget what he had been thinking about before.

"Try to explain what the colour orange is to someone who has been blind ever since he was born. 'An orange is orange.' 'What is an orange?' 'A round fruit.' Then you'll get 'What's round?' or 'What's a fruit like?' Of course they know what it is in words, but not what it really is. You can guess what I look like a bit with your experience and stuff, but that other guy won't ever be able to do that."

Looking at it like that really did help. The empty, dead place inside of him that had started to fill with panic soothed down and felt less empty and dead.

"And now you go get some sleep. I can see how tired you are by just looking at you."

And so Roy closed his eyes which were actually already supposed to be closed and allowed sleep to wash over him.


	2. Confusion, shock and a bit of hope

The next time Roy woke up from his dreamless sleep, he heard a strangely familiar and annoying tune, but he wasn't conscious enough to actually register it.

"What do you mean with 'I'm coming to visit you!'?! I'm at my work, I'm not some hospitalized patient in dire need of an annoying visit from an annoying sister!" was what pulled him back down to Earth.

"What?! You're already on your way here? Hey, don't you dare hang up on…" Beep. Beep. Beep. "…me…"

Roy snickered, though stopped when he felt a murderous presence shooting in his direction.

"Know what, it's going to take her about five minutes to get here and I won't be finished in this room by then, so you're going to feel her wrath too. Even as just a patient… Maybe…" Lena grumbled.

"How come you're so sure?" Roy asked, sounding extremely cocky. Even for some blind guy.

"As I told you yesterday, she's pregnant. And she's already naturally greedy and bossy and just horrible, now she's ten times worse. I don't know where she gets all that energy, she's always whining about how tired she is but I do know where it all goes! To eating and pissing others off, that is," Lena complained, making Roy chuckle again.

It felt good and weird at the same time to be with a 'normal' person. This 'normal' person was complaining about her sister visiting, something that seemed so trivial to him, someone who had seen comrades die in war.

"And what's worse, the only person who can calm her is her husband. But like he's going to come… We love to pester each other and he knows how much I _love_ my sister." A groan followed the whining.

With a sigh, Lena practically dropped a plate onto Roy's lap and moved the confused man around until he was sitting with his back against the headboard.

"You must be hungry," she explained quickly before continuing with her work.

Roy stared at where he believed his food was, not sure what he was supposed to do with it. A few moments later, Lena almost facepalmed, realizing her mistake.

"I'm sorry," she murmured before picking the plate up again and sitting down on the chair next to Roy's bed.

Soon enough, Roy felt the tip of a spoon press against his lips. He grumbled inwardly, a light blush covering his cheeks in embarrassment as he opened his mouth slightly, just wide enough for the spoon to dump its food onto his tongue.

Whatever it was, it tasted like nothing, but this wasn't a restaurant and being fed by a stranger was already killing his pride; complaining would only rub it in.

So he swallowed all of it like a good boy and hesitantly waited for the next spoonful of food. Though that spoon never came.

"Leeee~" a feminine voice yelled, causing lots of people to stop with what they were doing and look up. Those who couldn't recognize the voice became puzzled while those who could abandoned their jobs and went to find safety.

_Everybody_ who knew Annette knew how annoying she was. Somehow despite that, she was quite popular.

Lena abruptly stood up and managed to throw in an 'Oh god!' before the door was thrown open.

"Oh Lee~!" this time the voice was singing.

"Oh Annette." The amount of emotions her sister had too much was the amount Lena missed.

"Oh, don't be so moody with me!" Who was being moody here? "It's not my fault you have to hang around sick people all day." So now she had gone and said that again.

Lena decided to ignore her and went on with her work, completely forgetting Roy and his hungry stomach. Annette didn't seem to notice the lack of response and cheerfully went on.

"You know what'd be a good idea?" Oh dear, now she was going to start _that_ again. "You should go and find yourself a guy and get laid!" Annette mused as if she had just thought up the best plan ever.

Roy was surprised by how she sounded like the female version of Maes Hughes.

Lena was all ready as red as a tomato. "J-just because you did that doesn't mean I have to do it as well!"

Annette sniffled dramatically. "Ouch, that hurt. And I just know how much more you'd love your life if you did it," she pressed on.

Silence filled the room and Roy felt incredibly uncomfortable all of a sudden. And then the worst thing ever happened.

"Say, who's your patient right now?"

Well, the worst thing that could ever happen inside of this building.

Before Lena could even open her mouth to answer, Annette squealed and pulled her out of the room. Not like it helped or anything, Roy would still be able to hear what they said.

"Oh. My. God!"

"You're happily married and even pregnant; you're not allowed to sound like that when talking about someone other than your husband."

"I know… But still! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why would I?"

"Because… Don't you even know who he is? I know you're always working and inexperienced and stuff, but that's just…"

"Of course I know who he is. But does that mean he deserves a different treatment than the others?"

As the sisters continued to babble on, Roy stared at nothing with wide eyes. Confusion, shock and a bit of hope filled him as he replayed her words over and over again.

He could suddenly feel his heart warm up slightly at the thought of Lena. The confusion merely grew at that; why would his heart do that? Maybe he had always tested woman with his flirting, trying to find the one who would resists his 'outer-charms'? Yearned to meet the woman who would take her time to find the real him, his 'inner-charms'? He didn't know and right then he didn't really care as the conversation between the sisters faded until it was gone.


	3. Faithless

The next time Roy opened his eyes, everything was white. At least it wasn't all black for a moment. He looked around and came to the conclusion that there wasn't anything else here.

Wondering where he was, he took a few steps forwards. As he started to move to take the second step, he froze at a suspiciously familiar sound.

He opened his mouth to ask who was there, only to find he had lost his voice.

In the meanwhile, the noise kept coming closer. Panic and fear filled Roy as he racked his brain to try and remember where he had heard the sound before.

At exactly the same moment as he remembered, black arms shot out from under him. He would've yelled if he could. The arms became larger in width, angry eyes and evil grins appearing on them as they entwined with each other.

The ends of the arms were cut off, making the entwined blob in front of him look like a rectangle. Golden gates appeared, one at each side.

Roy's eyes widened as he realized what it was.

_The Gate… Truth!_ was what shot through his mind which closed off in fear seconds later. The grins disappeared and the eyes became one, staring down at him. He started to feel impossibly small.

The thing Roy feared most happened: arms shot out of it, racing towards him at high speed, grabbing his arms and legs. Then two arms somehow plunged themselves into his eyes, though he didn't feel anything yet.

But then the arms grabbed something and were pulled out again.

And Roy yelled louder than he ever had.

~~~~~

His eyes flew open and he hadn't thought the somewhat familiar darkness would ever be comforting. He heard the page of a book being flipped over and he immediately knew who was sitting next to him.

"Is it just me, or do I always seem to wake up when you're here?" he murmured.

Lena laughed softly, "The first two times were coincidence, but this time I stayed because it seemed you were having a nightmare."

Roy raised his hands to his face, pressing against his eyes and even welcoming the pain as if he were blaming them for something.

"Don't do that," Lena softly grabbed his hands, letting his right one fall back on to the bed while pressing his left one against her chest. "Tell me what happened."

"I…can't…" Roy mumbled while biting his lip. He chewed so hard that it didn't take long before he could taste blood.

"Why not? You don't want to? Are you afraid?"

"No, I can't. It was how I lost my eyesight. I'm not allowed to say how it happened."

Lena didn't say anything else and continued to caress Roy's hand. Normally he would've pulled his hand back, but for some reason, he wanted her to continue.

As silence dominated the whole conversation, Roy's mind started wandering. The moment his thoughts ended up with the Truth, his mouth opened immediately.

"Do you believe in God? You know, the God most people believe in," he randomly blurted, surprising Lena.

"Maybe… Sometimes… But what did you mean with the last part? 'The God most people believe in?'" Roy realized what he had said and decided to act as fast as possible.

"Never mind that. Why do you only sometimes believe in God?" he shot right back at her.

"Yes, sometimes. Maybe it's when something bad happens; and not for cheering up. It's for blame," Lena explained with her voice so soft Roy almost couldn't hear it.

He was sure this was a touchy subject she'd rather not talk about, but he felt like being rather selfish right now and didn't want to let his mind roam freely again.

"Like when? Can you give me an example?"

Lena swallowed at that and nervously started to play with Roy's fingers. "Most of the time, it's for when one of my patients die."

Roy was surprised by the droplets that fell onto his hand. His hand that was being held by a trembling person, making him feel guilty as Hell. Everything he had seen of Lena up till now gave him the impression that she was a proud and strong woman. She didn't seem like the kind of women who'd cry in front of others.

"I always ask God why he let them die. Then I'd beg him to take good care of them in Heaven. And then, my faith in Him would disappear and all the blame would point at myself. 'Why didn't I try my best?' I'd wonder, not being able to sleep for nights…"

Roy felt ashamed of the fact that he had thought Lena was a normal person. They were much more alike than he suspected. How he grieved whenever someone died, wondering if he could have prevented it. Maes and the two doctors popped up in his mind, together with horrible feelings of pain and sadness.

"Anyway, are you all right now?" Lena quickly wiped her tears away. "Because if you are, I'll go home now."

It was then that Roy realized something. "Your shift already ended?"

Lena nodded, though he couldn't see it, "I was waiting for you to calm down. Or wake up."

Roy murmured a soft 'sorry' as he clenched his fists. Was he already dead weight to even the one taking care of him right now?

Lena gave his arm a slight squeeze. "Don't worry. I wanted to do it. I was worried," she smiled.

Roy somehow knew she was doing so and he allowed the corners of his lips to twitch upwards.

They said their goodbyes and Roy was left on his own again.


	4. First

It was a few days later when the air in Roy's room started to become a bit tense. Lena felt it even before knowing the exact reason and had decided to keep Roy company all day long. Just in case.

The door was swung open and two figures stood in the doorway. Well, one of them wasn't exactly standing. Lena could recognize the woman; she had been with Roy the day he had been brought to the hospital and had to get treated too. The man in the wheelchair, however, was unfamiliar to her.

"Colonel!" the man yelled loudly and happily, maybe not realizing that he was in the same room as said Colonel. A cigarette was hanging loosely between his lips, making Lena feel slightly dizzy. She couldn't have any smokers around her, the smell stealing the ability to use her lungs properly.

"Ah, Havoc. I'm not your Colonel anymore." Sadness crept into his words, hiding just under the surface, though it seemed that everybody in the room was able to hear it anyway.

"You will always be our Colonel," the women stated before turning to Lena.

"We never had time to introduce ourselves properly last time, so let's just start over. I'm Riza Hawkeye. It's a pleasure to meet the one taking care of our Colonel," she said while bowing lightly.

Lena was sightly taken aback at the respect she was getting.

"Ah, no, the pleasure's all mine. My name's Lena Hahn," she replied just as polite.

Havoc seemed too lazy and busy showering Roy with complaints and the like to greet her properly, though she was quite thankful for that.

She was slightly surprised; these people were supposed to be soldiers, or at least used to be 'dogs of the military'. She had always thought they were serious, almost sad people, though this meeting proved the very opposite of that thought. Maybe they were more similar to normal people after all.

Riza told him what she had heard from other people they knew, though Lena couldn't understand most of it. Not because they were talking softly; they were actually talking loud enough for anyone passing by to hear it without trying, but because of all the weird terms being used in the conversation. It didn't take long before Havoc started complaining about his legs and how everyone was pitying him, despite how well he was doing with some shop of his.

About an hour later they left, Havoc quickly squishing his umpteenth cigarette in an ashtray Lena had found for him before allowing Riza to push his wheelchair away. Riza glanced at Roy one last time before leaving; she was obviously worried, but didn't dare to say anything.

Roy and Lena sat there, not knowing what to do with the sudden silence.

"It… must've been great to work with such people," Lena said as she opened a window and took a deep breath of the fresh air that was allowed to come inside the room.

"Yes, it was..." Roy agreed with a small smile on his face. Lena knew it was a real smile, not the fake one he had used for his comrades today.

"Don't worry. Everything will work out in the end," Lena tried to cheer him up with one of the most cliché sentences man had ever known.

"How do you know?" Roy asked her, receiving an invisible shrug in reply.

"I just do. A woman's intuition?" she suggested cheerfully.

"Oh God! And here I thought you weren't one of _those_! Believing in such overused things. 'It's a boy, I just know! As the mother of this child, I just know it is!'" Lena laughed at him mimicking her sister.

"It wouldn't surprise me if it was a girl, actually," she added and Roy laughed along with her.

As the noise they were making died down, neither could find anything to talk about.

"Will you tell me about your family? Like, how is, or was, it to live in such a big one? Wasn't it hard to find some privacy when being surrounded by siblings all the time?"

Lena chuckled at his question, making Roy feel uncomfortable. Was what he had asked that weird?

"There really isn't anything special about how I grew up. There are people who grew up in much bigger families, really. But I guess it does seem like something unimaginable for someone who hasn't had any brothers or sisters, like you."

Roy nodded while feeling slightly embarrassed at how predictable he seemed to be at the moment.

"There are always two sides of a coin, with everything. The good thing would be that you're never alone, but that can also be a bad thing too. There's always someone you can annoy, or someone who is annoying you. I remember being the childish one who always wanted to be together with my brother or sister while they were more mature than me and wanted to do everything alone."

She suddenly started laughing again.

"But look at us now; I'm the more mature one right now."

"So, you're the youngest one?" Roy remembered her having already said that before.

"That's right."

Silence filled the air once more, but Lena didn't let it stay that way for long.

"Did you have any… goals when you were in the army?" she asked while trying to choose her words carefully. She didn't want to make Roy depressed because of something she mentioned. That's why she was relieved when she saw him nod his head slowly.

"Actually, I wanted to become Führer, but I can't anymore, seeing as how I'm blind," he answered, making Lena frown.

"What? Why not? Why does being blind mean you can't become Führer?"

Roy shrugged and turned his head away. It was obvious this conversation was making him uncomfortable, so Lena sighed in defeat and decided to try again later. But not before trying to comfort him a bit.

"There always has to be a first."


	5. Returning Fire

The next day, Roy found himself waiting for Lena, eager to hear her kind and comforting voice. And while he wondered why he had already grown so attached to her, he heard someone open the door and apologize in an unfamiliar voice.

"I'm sorry, but Lena won't be working today, she wasn't feeling very well this morning. That's why I'll be taking care of you until she recovers," the stranger explained, not seeming all that sad about the whole situation. Roy, on the other hand, was rather disappointed that he wouldn't get to be with Lena today.

The nurse — Samantha was her name — tried her best to fill in Lena's role, but it just wouldn't do. Her voice was less calming, her touch wasn't as soft and the way she talked was overall boring.

After she had told him she'd come back later that day to check up on him, Roy started to wonder if maybe Lena had had enough of his depressed state. After all, all he actually did was mope around and be sad about how he couldn't become Führer anymore, despite her attempts to cheer him up.

This was the first time Roy felt this way. Not knowing for sure what the other person thought of him… Normally he'd already have her wrapped around his sly finger, but the whole situation was different right now.

Still not fully understand why he actually cared, he sat up and decided it was time for a change. A dramatic, life-changing change.

"I'm not going to sit around helplessly anymore and let my dream collapse just because of my laziness. I'm going to show her my real side, the side of a Führer!" he yelled with fire in his eyes.

Fuelled by the sudden determination to prove to both Lena and himself that he wasn't a lost case, he started planning the best ways to resume his path towards the top.

* * *

Riza was sitting on the bed next to Roy's, watching him in amusement as he chanted things to himself about how the Ishvalans lived. He sounded like someone who was studying for an important exam.

She didn't know what exactly happened to him, or if Lena had anything to do with it, but to be honest, it didn't matter to her as she saw fire burning in his lifeless eyes once more. She didn't really care what had been done to get him back on his feet, since it was for the better. Roy just wasn't the man to sit around and sulk all day.

Once in a while, Breda or Fuery would come and drop off some more material that needed to be known in order for Roy to become Führer and maintain a peaceful relationship with Ishval. Even Ross decided to visit on random moments as some sort of encourager.

It was pretty obvious that everyone was happy to see their Colonel up and jumping again. They knew he'd never be the same man again, but they could try and get him as close to that as possible. And that was exactly what they were planning on doing.


	6. Memories

It took Lena two days to recover from her cold, and two days was all Roy needed to re-discover his determination. Lena didn't know of anything yet; she was even slightly worried about the man who had been down-hearted the last time she had seen him.

After quickly finishing all her other main tasks, Lena went off to check on Roy. Maybe her concern wasn't the only reason for her hurry. Maybe she had grown a bit fond of him while taking care of him and trying to cheer him up. He was different than what the rumours said, but she probably hadn't seen every single side of the colonel yet either. He wasn't really a narcissistic, selfish and shallow man like the rumours said, but used it as a shield to hide his love for his subordinates and supporters; it was pretty obvious when said people were around him.

Lena opened the door and froze on the spot at what she saw. There was Roy, sitting on his bed with Riza, who was smiling unsurely on the one next to him and two other men Lena hadn't met yet. Piles of papers were scattered across the whole room and for a moment she wondered if she had just entered the wrong one.

"Eh? What's going on here?" she asked, blinking a few times in confusion.

She had heard a few things they were saying, but hadn't really been able to understand what they meant. Seriously, what the hell had happened in here?

She received a few 'hello's and names (Breda and Fuery) from the other people in the room before the man in question replied.

"Welcome back, Lena!" Roy stopped mid-sentence to respond to Lena's presence.

Her eyes almost fell out of her sockets as she gaped at Roy. Was that really his voice? It sounded so different… Last time she had heard it, it sounded darker, sadder. What she had heard just now, that voice was filled with confidence and pride. But she had to admit, it fit him better. Yes, much better.

"W-what happened?" Lena stuttered and bent over to pick up a sheet of paper so she could examine it while waiting for an answer. It said something about Ishvalan crop? What was this supposed to be for?

"Ah, you see, I decided that you were right, that there has to be a first with everything. So I decided to be that first one. I immediately called a few subordinates who'd help me gather information for Ishval, among other things."

"Why Ishval?" Lena murmured as she instinctively started to collect more scattered papers into one pile. She couldn't help it; if there was one thing she disliked, it was being in a messy room.

Roy lifted his shoulders in a shrug before replying, "To maintain a peaceful relationship with them. The war against them was horrible… We don't want anything like that happening ever again.

Though Lena hadn't known him for very long, somehow she could feel that this whole idea was something rather typical for him. But that didn't matter anymore.

There was something that Lena couldn't understand. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands against her chest and listened to his voice and noticed how her heart started to beat a tad faster than normal.

"Are you all right?" Riza's voice pulled her out of her state of confusion as to why her heart would do that all of a sudden. Lena quickly nodded before starting her work; beginning with changing the sheets, all the while with her thoughts running wild.

She was breaking her promise; the promise she had made with herself years ago. She had sworn not to get too attached to any patients after she fell in love with a man who had been suffering from a sickness that wasn't easy to cure. Not only for the reason of having her heart broken, but also because she never got to know much about the patient's life. Of course, death was lingering right around the corner, waiting for its chance to jump out and scare the life out of the victim.

By the time Lena found out that 'a certain patient' was married, it was already too late for her to ignore her feelings for him and move on with her life. His wife was a kind woman, who smiled brightly at Lena despite knowing how she felt about her husband. Lena almost felt like she was a sister to her — that is, until 'the one who had captured her heart' died. Even though he had been on the difficult path to recovery… His heart gave up before trying.

Still young and inexperienced then, she blamed herself, thinking her love was cursed and had killed him. She wouldn't allow herself to look at a man back then. Luckily, she grew out of that period and even dated some other guys, but never felt content, her sister teasing her all the way.

Lena still had contact with his wife. Ex-wife, actually. She married some other guy and even had a child with him. Lena was happy that everyone had been able to continue their lives somehow.

But as she looked up from what she was doing, to glance at Roy, she actually saw 'him' for just a moment and she couldn't help but feel hopeless. She had done it again, and realized it too late. Again.

Oh dear…


	7. Dreams

Despite having realized and given her feelings their rightful name, Lena tried her best to conceal them. Maybe if she ignored them, they'd disappear by themselves? After all, it wasn't going to take much longer before Roy was allowed to leave the hospital.

Speaking of Roy, it seemed he was practically the same as before he went blind. At least, that's what Riza told her with that kind smile of hers. Though there was no way Lena herself could know if it was true or not, because she had never known him what he was like _before_.

For some reason that thought always made her sad, even though she should be relieved by the fact that he was okay now. But it really just meant that she was of no importance to him, she was merely some woman who was going to accompany him for a short while on his path to recovery.

Carefully sipping her warm coffee, she was so occupied with her thoughts that she almost didn't notice the door opening.

"Ah, Lena…" Riza's voice sounded like she had been searching for Lena, making the nurse look up in surprise. She noticed that Riza was wearing normal clothes and she remembered that she had been released a few days ago.

"Is there something you need?" Lena asked as she placed her cup on the table, folding her hands in her lap and looking at Riza with curiosity afterwards.

_That smile_ appeared on Riza's face and she quickly took place in the free chair next to Lena's, all the while keeping her eyes downcast. Though once she found a comfortable spot, she stared Lena right in the eye, said woman taken aback slightly by the playful shine in Riza's eyes.

"Were you thinking about him again?" she asked in a teasing voice, surprising Lena even more.

This was a side she hadn't expected to be allowed to see (if it existed at all), but here she was, being pestered by someone she had considered a serious and rather cold woman, ignoring all the smiles for her comrades.

"Eh?" Lena mumbled, her cheeks turning bright red, receiving a laugh from her 'attacker'. She let out a small whine and quickly pressed her hands against her hot face in an attempt to hide it from Riza, which only made Riza laugh again.

"I-is it really that obvious?" Lena almost cried out in embarrassment, shaking her head frantically. She stopped as she heard Riza make a disagreeing noise.

"I just happen to be good at noticing those things." Was that seriously a sparkle that flashed next to her face when she said that? Lena stared at her for a few seconds before dismissing it as her mind playing tricks on her.

"Ah, but it's probably just some childish crush that I never got to have when I was still a girl… It's not like I could ever become someone important to him." Lena smiled while playing a bit with her half-full cup of coffee. At the thought that someday, she would be forgotten by the man she currently loved, she felt a painful stab in her chest.

"What're you talking about?" Riza asked in confusion, the playful sparkles in her eyes making place for a more serious look, "I think you're already an irreplaceable someone in his life, really."

Lena smiled at her words, wondering if she was saying this just to comfort her or if it was the truth. Her heart believed it, obviously wishing it to be true, but her mind wasn't quite sure about it.

"Oh well, one can dream…"


	8. Almost There

Lena knew this day was bound to come, but she had never expected it to be so fast. Or maybe it had only arrived so quickly, because she had been in a daze most of the time, which made it fly by like that.

Sitting quietly in Roy's room, she had watched him and his friends do their thing together as an unfamiliar group entered the room. One of them had a hoodie on and what little that was visible of his face made her stomach churn painfully. His skin was completely marred and wrinkled; his right eye probably couldn't see anything. Lena could only guess that he had experienced some kind of explosion or an accident with fire.

Doctor Knox was accompanying him, which calmed Lena's curiosity a little for she knew he was a rather serious man who liked to get his business done with as soon as possible. What his business was this time, she couldn't guess.

Roy gave her a look that made her heart jump, but it also told her that she should leave the room for a while. Somewhere deep down, it hurt her to see him keeping secrets from her, though she also knew it was probably to protect her as well. By now, she had realized that she knew more than necessary about what had happened in the military and that it might put her in danger.

Lena nodded at him and offered him an encouraging smile as she noticed the fear evident in how he sat there, how he acted and how his voice trembled ever so slightly. The pain of being sent away by Roy disappeared and in its place came the pain of not being by his side when he needed her.

She quietly walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Looking in through the window, she could see the man with the horrifying face pull something out of his pocket to which Roy reacted in shock. Once she heard them speaking of "philosopher stone" and the "souls of Ishvalans", she knew it was time to leave.

One didn't need to be very intelligent to realize what this meant. The Philosopher's Stone... Everyone knew it from fiction and so on, always serving a different function but one thing always stayed the same: it had unimaginable power capable of changing many people's lives, for better or for worse. It was obvious that this stone was going to give Roy his eyesight back.

Leaning against the wall opposite of the door, Lena made sure she couldn't hear anything else as she let her mind wander. The arrival of these men probably meant that Roy was going to leave and that she would never get to see him again. But maybe... Maybe Riza had been right?

Before she could think much further than that, the door was opened sooner than expected. Looking up in surprise, Lena now couldn't help but listen to the conversation as Doctor Knox and the hooded man were already busy leaving.

"We can't do it here, we'll need somewhere with enough room for a transmutation circle as big as the first one," the hooded man said, his eyes meeting Lena's for a split second, causing a shiver to crawl up her spine. "But I think I might know where we could do it."

"Doctor Marcoh..." Roy interrupted his ramblings as he managed to find his way through the room with Riza's help. The doctor looked at him questioningly in an attempt to encourage him to spill.

"I have a request, if you don't mind..." he carefully continued and he looked at Lena. Knox' and Marcoh's gaze followed his and they all ended up staring at her, making her feel rather unpleasant.

"You want to get an outsider involved in all this?" Doctor Knox asked him as if he had gone completely bonkers, still looking you over. He raised an eyebrow as Roy nodded his head.

"Besides, it's all over, right? It's not like something can happen to her if she knows?" Roy added, still trying his best to convince his comrades that it would be alright to have Lena accompany him.

A grin spread across Knox' face, surprising everybody nearby. "Took you long enough, kid."

After a few moments of silence, Knox gave Roy his final answer. "All right, you can bring her along. But inform her before tomorrow, so she doesn't freak out and cause a commotion."


	9. Price to pay

Lena was holding Roy's hand as they waited outside of the hospital for the others to arrive, making sure he didn't trip over or run into anything. He was still blind, after all.

"What's wrong?" Roy asked, somehow sensing something was wrong with her. Lena merely shrugged in response.

"I'm just a bit tired, I couldn't really get much sleep last night after all that you've told me. It just seems so... unreal that all that happened without us, the normal people, noticing. And that you guys were risking your lives trying to save us..." she replied, thinking back at the day when everybody suddenly fell asleep and awoke hours later without knowing what had happened. They had mysteriously lost many patients that day... It had really been a traumatic happening.

"Don't worry about it. We were just doing our duty, protecting the country and its people. It won't happen again, okay? I'll try my best to prevent anything like that from happening ever again. Trust me," Roy reassured his caretaker.

Just a little bit longer and he won't need her anymore. What'll happen after that? Will they both just return to their former lives, or will they continue seeing each other?

Maybe she was even happy to get rid of him?

Shrugging those feelings off, he felt Lena tug at his hand all of a sudden.

"There they are."

His stomach churned in both fear to lose what he had acquired and excitement to regain what he had lost.

The introductions didn't take long, Knox probably wanted this over with as soon as possible. Still quite the paranoid type, Lena noticed. Marcoh seemed much more relaxed though still eager to get it on with. Lena had learned that he was going to become a doctor in Ishval once he had finished this.

Riza had also decided to tag along, she was the only one from Roy's team who had decided to come along.

The tension rose as everybody made their way towards the place Marcoh had appointed as fitting for this operation, Riza driving the car with Knox sitting in the passenger seat. Lena forced Roy in the middle behind them, so that he couldn't hit his head against the glass in a curve he couldn't see coming, Lena herself and Marcoh seated at both sides of him.

It seemed to take ages before they got there and Lena was quite grateful for that, enjoying these last moments with Roy.

The building that Marcoh had chosen was just a regular building that belonged to the military, though they went to one of the lower levels that looked more like a prison than anything else.

Finally in the transmutation-room, Lena followed the red line that had been painted on the stones that functioned as the ground with her eyes, not understanding all the symbols and words that seemed to be drawn at random.

She knew better than that, though, realizing that even the slightest change would ruin everything. Somebody must have taken hours doing all this work.

"This way," Marcoh encouraged Roy, Lena guiding him after the doctor until they were standing in the middle of the circle. "Lay him down here."

Once Roy was sitting in the right spot, Marcoh gave him the red stone and pushed Lena in the direction of Riza, who was standing outside of the circle.

"I'll see you in a bit," Roy whispered to her, grinning at the truth in his words.

He was nervous, yes, but he was also confident that everything would go right. It just had to.

After giving Lena's face which he was going to see soon enough one last caress, he let Lena follow Marcoh's lead. Riza seemed to be just as fidgety as Lena, so to reassure both of them, she grabbed Riza's hand and gave it a friendly squeeze.

Riza smiled thankfully at her before redirecting her gaze towards her Colonel sitting in the middle of the transmutation circle.

"You ready?" Knox shouted from the other side of the room towards Marcoh, who merely nodded as he went to sit on his knees just outside the largest circle.

Without waiting for another sign of approval, Marcoh clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground, wind picking up all of the sudden. The lines of the circle started glowing and Roy yelled as the light engulfed him.

Opening his eyes, he still couldn't see anything but his instinct told him that he was somewhere else.

"So, you're back again?" that familiar voice asked him and he turned around, realizing he was at the Gate once more.

But this time, he was going to retrieve what was his.

"I want my eyes back," he commanded sternly, his voice leaving no room for any protest. The voice merely laughed, not very impressed by Roy's seemingly powerful demeanour.

"You know how it goes, equivalent exchange. I'm not giving you anything if I don't get something of equal importance in exchange."

Roy held out his fist, palm turned upwards, and he slowly opened his hand, the Philosopher's Stone shining brightly to everyone but himself.

The voice chuckled and Roy's confidence wavered for a moment.

"So, you want to sacrifice thousands of lives only to regain your eyesight?"

Gritting his teeth, he remembered Marcoh telling him that the Ishvalans who had been captured inside this stone would willingly sacrifice themselves if Roy promised them that he'd change the policy again Ishvalans, that those who were still alive could safely return home.

"We have a deal," he stated, quietly saying his goodbyes and thanks to the souls inside the stone, not sure if the small voices that replied were real or just in his imagination.

"If you say so."

The weight disappeared from his hand and at the same time the black world was replaced by the white room he had never wanted to see again. In front of him, the dark figure disappeared just as he was forced out of this realm.


	10. Simple and Clean

Slowly opening his eyes, Roy found himself dazedly staring into blue orbs, worry, hope and fear filling them all at the same time.

"Who..." he started, frowning slightly at the unfamiliar woman. Dirty blond hair appeared in his vision as well and then it hit him. "Lena?"

The girl smiled and sighed in relief. "How do I look?"

Lena helped Roy sit up as he noticed he was back in the hospital. Riza and Marcoh were still there, watching in curiosity.

He looked Lena up and down, taking in her appearance for the first time since their meeting.

"You look beautiful," he smiled at her, happiness filling him so that he couldn't control himself.

Ignoring the protests of those around him, he slowly climbed out of the bed and went to stand right in front of Lena, staring into her eyes that he somehow found mesmerizing.

He had never thought about it before, but eyes were actually really weird, weren't they?

Somewhere in the background, Riza and Marcoh gave each other meaningful glances as they sneaked out of the room but they might as well have brought in a tank and started shooting bazookas and the two of them wouldn't have noticed any of it.

"What... what did you see?" Lena asked as she sat back down on his bed, curious to know but afraid to hit a sensitive spot for the man who had just regained his sight.

"I saw God," Roy said, making Lena look up in surprise. He went to sit down next to her and placed his hand on her leg.

"He can give you something, anything, as long as you can give him something in return. I gave him the Philosopher's Stone in exchange for my eyes."

There was a pain evident in his voice that Lena would probably never understand, no matter how hard she tried, so she decided to let it be.

"What are you going to do now?" Lena asked him the next question that had been nibbling at the corners of her mind. Fear settled in her stomach as she thought of how he was going to leave and never come back.

"First of all, I'm going to do my best in the military, to help this country, but I don't-"

"What about us?" Lena interrupted him and immediately clapped her hands over her mouth after she blurted the words out. How could she be so _egoistic_, thinking about herself in a situation like this?

Roy blinked in surprise at Lena's sudden outburst but at the same time he was glad that she was the one who asked it because he himself would probably have never dared to ask it.

"Yes, what about us?" he shot back at her in a playful yet at the same time serious manner.

Lena looked at him in confusion, not sure how she was supposed to react to that. Not really caring to speak with words, she decided to convey her feelings with actions.

She got up and moved to stand in front of him where she bent forward slightly, her hands resting on his legs to support herself as she pressed her lips against his.

It satisfied her to finally be able to do what she had been dreaming of doing for quite a while now.

After pulling apart, Lena noticed the smile on Roy's lips and relief washed over her like a tsunami.

Roy let himself fall back onto the bed and pulled Lena down with him until she was lying snugly on top of him.

"What about us... Isn't it obvious?"


End file.
